Telstra leads NBN brand funnel as trust crowns Aussie

Conjointly has added Australian NBN home internet providers to its Brand Tracker product, with early results placing Telstra at the top of key brand funnel measures and Aussie Broadband leading on trust.

The Sydney-based market research firm's tracker monitors brand awareness, consideration and preference, alongside perception measures such as speed, reliability and customer support. It described the new coverage as a free resource for Australian businesses and observers seeking comparable performance data across major providers.

Funnel metrics

In the first wave of results, Telstra recorded 86% aided awareness among respondents. It also led on consideration at 45% and preferred brand status at 30%.

Optus ranked second across the same measures, with 79% aided awareness, 30% consideration and 16% preferred brand. Vodafone, Dodo, iinet and TPG each posted aided awareness above 60%, suggesting a crowded field of well-known brands.

Beyond overall scale, the research highlighted differences in how effectively providers converted awareness into preference. Aussie Broadband, Belong and TPG were notable on this measure, based on the relationship between their awareness footprint and preferred brand scores.

Aussie Broadband paired mid-tier awareness of 60% with a preferred brand score of 9%, indicating comparatively strong preference among consumers who know the brand despite lower overall reach than category leaders.

Belong, TPG and iinet also showed signs of loyalty among those aware of the brands, with what Conjointly described as decisive movement through the funnel from awareness to preference.

Trust and perception

The tracker also asked respondents about brand trust and performance perceptions. Telstra led for speed, reliability and customer support, scoring 77% for fast internet speeds, 76% for reliable connection, and 74% for good customer support.

Trust produced a different ordering at the top: Aussie Broadband recorded the highest brand trust score at 80%, ahead of Telstra on 75%.

Conjointly highlighted Telstra's combination of reach and reputation, placing it in the top five for both trust and awareness-something fewer brands achieved in the first wave.

Some brands appeared to trade scale for strength among a narrower customer base. Aussie Broadband's position on trust, set against its awareness score, suggested its standing is more concentrated among people familiar with the provider.

Conjointly founder Nik Samoylov said the results show brands can build equity through different attributes.

"What strikes me most in this first wave of data is how different the paths to brand equity can be," said Nik Samoylov, Founder, Conjointly. "Telstra dominates on scale and performance perception, yet Aussie Broadband outscores it on trust. That's not a fluke, it reflects a market where consumers are actively differentiating between providers on factors beyond name recognition."

Study design

The findings come from a syndicated study of 1,256 Australian broadband customers. Of those, 847 respondents qualified as having standard home internet via a fixed connection such as NBN or OptiComm, with a Wi‑Fi router, and said they were the decision-maker or purchaser for their household's internet plan.

Participants were recruited through Conjointly's panel network and compensated for their time. The sample was weighted to national demographics to make the results market-representative.

Brand Tracker reports funnel metrics such as awareness, consideration, purchase intent and preference. Conjointly offers free access to public brand data across six Australian industries, with paid monitoring options for organisations that want tracking of their own brand.

Conjointly started in 2016 as an online tool for conjoint analysis and later expanded into a broader market research platform. It holds ISO 20252:2019 for sampling, ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 27701:2019 for information security and privacy management, and SOC 2 Type II certification.

"We built Brand Tracker because we want to make insights about brand tracking accessible to everyone-big and small businesses alike," said Samoylov.